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World University Rankings - The Top 100 Under 50

The Times Higher Education Magazine (THE) today announced a new world university ranking, assessing only universities founded within the last 50 years. These rankings give newer universities the chance to shine, and show European universities in a particularly positive light.

The number one university in the world under 50 years old is Pohang University of Science and Technology (Postech), in South Korea. At a mere 26 years old, this university is the same age as Whatuni’s (very young) Editor (the youngest university to be ranked in the table is Italy’s University of Milan-Bicocca which, at 14, isn’t even old enough to vote).

We’re pleased to say that the United Kingdom came out shining, with more UK universities in the top 100 than any other nation.

It’s not all about the UK, though. Australia has done pretty nicely, with 14 universities in the top 100, and the US has 9 representatives (American universities tend to dominate in the traditional world rankings, with the likes of Harvard and MIT regularly topping the charts.

We’re feeling pretty patriotic in the Whatuni offices, not least because the massive 'hooray for the Queen' bank holiday weekend is days away, so we’re especially proud of how the UK has fared in these rankings.

Phil Baty, editor of Times Higher Education Rankings, suggested that the rankings represent “a clear warning to the traditional elites in the US and UK that new powers in higher education and research are quickly emerging. The heritage institutions need to watch their backs”.

Will these young pretenders be knocking well-established, historic universities off the top spot in years to come? We don’t see Cambridge quaking in their boots just yet, but give it another 20 years or so and we might be looking at a very different set of statistics.